I recently went to see the new superhero film, Man of Steel, in theaters. And it was AWESOME.

I went in to the theater a little apprehensive. I had seen Superman Returns, and I, like many other, just did not like it all that much. As such, I was worried that Man of Steel would be just like that. I worried that no one knew how to tell a good Superman story.

I was wrong. The whole movie was terrific. As with most superhero movies these days, it was an origin story. And they used it well. Throughout the film, we see Clark "Superman" Kent wandering the world, trying to find his place in it. And in typical Superman fashion, it take a world threatening disaster to get him off his duff. That disaster was a visit from in lost homeworld in the form of Zod (*spoiler: He never says "Kneel before Zod" /sad/). From there on, Superman is seen before us in all of his awesomeness.

About the only problem I had with the movie was the pacing. It was rather fast paced, leaving little room for the audience absorb the events they had just scene.* Regardless, this is a must see film for anyone who is a superhero fan

I like to read webcomics. Some of them have briliantly written stories, with gorgeous artwork, worthy of standard publication. While I read serveral on a regular basis, and I should just quit reading some that no longer interest me very much, one in particular has had my attention for quite some time: Earthsong. I first got in touch with Earthsong when I was looking a website reviewing comic books, Earthsong selling Volume I in standard publication. The review mentioned it was an online graphic novel, so I went to give it a look. It caught me almost intantly thanks to some truly gorgeous artwork. And I haven't stopped loving it since. Now to be sure, the overall plot hasn't been quick by any standards. Part of the reason for that is the author/artist decided to redo all of the artwork and dialogue of Volume I and much of II. This delay has reduced the pace of the plot to a snail's pace, especially since a new page only updates every Monday. All in all, I recommend reading this webcomic. You will see some of the best artwork anywhere, and a unique plot, which I will not reveil in order to entice you to look it over. Now go and read it.

I have been loving the new Superhero show on the CW network, Arrow. It is truly a remarkable achievement, considering the last live-action superhero show was The Cape. If you haven't been watching Arrow yet, please start soon.One of the reasons for its sucess has to be because it has been starting off slow. Arrow, while featuring DC comics characters, making use of a major conspiracy, that only Oliver Queen can destroy. That kind of slow, arc-driven kind of story-telling has become quite popular over the years and it's good to see it used here.Another great aspect of the show is the constant drumbeat of DC characters making a cameo in the show. Everyone from Deathstroke to recently Count Vertigo, it seems that the writers understand the history of Green Arrow and the DCU and want to make it apart of this TV series. To be sure, the characters are altered from their Comics origins, but at least they are a part of the newest continuity. The only complaint I have on this use is that in Arrow, they happen to be killed off by the end of the episode. Aside from the problem of having a superhero kill with such regularity, I just doesn't seem right that Arrow's rogue gallery is being so easily disposed of.To sum up. Watch this show.And as Always, Enjoy.

The show Arrow, running on CW Network, is quickly becoming one of my favorite new shows of the season. While I'm more of a Bat-fan, Green Arrow is similar enough to have a place in my heart. That's one reason Arrow has my attention. Another is that the storyline is quite intriguing. We're only three episodes in, and yet we are slowly learning of a conspiracy that has ruined Starr City, that includes Oliver "Green Arrow" Queen's own mother. The addition of Deadshot also helps.Which is a nice segway to the other thing that makes Arrow such a wonderful show. The characters are rather top notch. Each and every character is not some sort of archtype, and each one is flawed in a certain way. I won't go into detail with that observation. Instead, I will implore you to watch the show yourself, especially if you are a superhero fan. Finally it can be said that there is a live-action superhero show that manages to treat it seriously.

The following is one of the funniest skits I have ever seen come out of the seminal Sketch series, Robot Chicken, I have ever seen. I you don't laugh, then you hate Batman and/or Mark Hamill. And if you hate either, then I want nothing to do with you.

And this one is just weird. I think the animators were tripping on mushrooms, or something.

And this one is just plain awesome. Daniel Craig FTW (note, Daniel Craig does not appear in this sketch).

For a couple of years now there have been two excellent superhero cartoon shows on the air. On Cartoon Network is the excellently animated Young Justice. And on Disney XD is the well plotted Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I watch both shows regularly, and you should too. Young Justice has a tight plot and well coreographed action scenes, while Avengers clearly keeps to the source matierial, while still making room for their own canon. But if I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be Avengers.But it didn't have to be that way. At a glance, Young Justice just has the advantage. It has crisper animation, a more compelling story, and it's DC: I'm a bigger fan of the DCU than of the Marvel U. However, the plot has recently become its sticking point. Spoilers abound: Young Justice is about the sidekicks in a battle of wills against an organization of the most dangerous supervillains in the DCU calling themselves the Light. Last season ended with a successful attack by the Light against the Justice League, where much of the Light's plotting over the season hit paydirt. The next season begins 5 years later, and the results of the Light's attack are only now being felt. That came as a neat surprise, moreso because one of the heroes of the show seems to have gone rouge. But we learn at the Mid-season finale, we found out that he was actually acting as a double agent, trying to infiltrate the Light. A couple of weeks ago, the season began again, and it is meandering. The new mystery is the Light's extra-terrestrial partner and who he might be. Evidence points to Desaad of Apokalypse, but who knows. And that is the problem. We are constantly being teased about seeing the Partner, but after months, we are not shown at all. I love a good mystery, but this one just doesn't seem to be going anywhere.Oddly, this isn't a problem for Avengers. They too have longer reaching plotlines that extend over seasons. But the payoff for those plots come much faster. At the end of Season one of Avengers, we found out that the Skrulls were infiltrating Earth and the Avengers. I, and most likely others, believed that the whole Skrull invasion storyline would take up the entire 2nd season. Instead, it only took a half season. And now, we're just waiting for the Kree-Skrull war that was promised halfway through the first season. But the wait isn't so bad as Avengers has plenty of other plotlines to carry us through. So in conclusion, while Young Justice is a better cartoon, Avengers is the winner this season to to a distinct lack of mean

As many of you know, I have been reading the critically acclaimed Fantasy series, The Wheel of Time. When last I mentioned this, I was in the 6th book Lord of Chaos. However, I was only able to get maybe a 6th of the way through before I had to stop. I was borrowing it from the library and as I was going on a camping trip, I decided not to take it with me and returned it. That was in March or April. I haven't gone back to it since. I think I would be more likely to pick up the book again if I thought reading it would get me closer to the end. The Wheel of Time is a wonderfully detailed series with a well defined setting with unique backstory, and an interesting plot that I would read to the bitter end. But none of that matters to me because the characters are no long interesting to me. As I have previously noted, the characterization of the principle actors is just oh so annoying. All the women are arrogant, stuck-up shrews. The men are either weak whipping posts (if confronting women), or idiots who do whatever they think is best and never learn from thier mistakes. (The exception to the man rule is Perrin. He stands up frequently to Faile at least learns with during his experience.).This running complaint, and long hiatus from the series really brings me to the realization that characters are just as important to any story. They need to be three dimensional, especially in long stories, or else it become more of a chore to read than a joy. Compare the seminal manga series One Piece, by Eiichiro Oda. One Piece is a long running manga that is heavily plot-driven. A plot-driven work usually has limited or no character development. Indeed, even after 15 years (WOW!) of publication, One Piece remains one of, if not the, most popular comic in the world. Yet almost none of the characters has changed in all that time, [spoiler] even after and in-story two year time-skip [/spoiler]. Luffy is still a hyperactive, impulsive, child-like cravy-person, and Zoro is still the stoice, bloodthirsty swordsman always looking for a good fight. Nothing really has changed characterwise between those two or the other Strawhats. But while the world of One Piece is indeed very intriguing, certainly the best example of world building since Tolkein, what keeps me going back week after week, bi-monthly, is the awesome characters. In any given situation, the Stawhats will react predictably, as well as in new and exciting ways. When the Strawhats visit an island in the sky, they decide to go on a treasure hunt, rather than fight the tyrant villain as they did previously. When they go a Governement island in order to rescue a Nakama, they acted as fierce and determined as they ever had been, while still maintaining their personallity. So while the characters have remained the same, they are 3-dimensional beings who react appropriatly on every occasion. That is not what is happening in The Wheel of Time.In The Wheel of Time, every character goes through some change, but their reactions to different events never changes. Nynaeve will always act abrasive, even when the situation may call for tact. Mat will always act cowardly and greedy, always thinking of himself and no other. And Rand. He will always, always, act without thinking, never seeking any advice, and always ignoring whatever advice was given, and always whining all the way. (While Luffy is just as headstrong and impulsive, at least he knows when to listen to advice.) None of them ever show even a hint of hidden depths. Hidden talents, yes. But never any hidden motivations.In short, The Wheel of Time chararcters are just boring to me, and I can't go back to reading about them. Just utterly boring. This is certainly a case of YMMV*, but that is just how I feel.*I make no apologies for linking to TVTropes. If I can quit, then you can too.

I recently saw the latest Christopher Nolan film, The Dark Knight Rises. There is no other word to say about that film, except AWESOME! If you haven't gone to see it yet, do so. Batman fans, superhero fans, and general action flick fans must see this film. I won't lie, it's not quite as strong as The Dark Knight, in my personal opinion. But criticisms be damned! See the movie. You'll be glad you did.

This past weekend, I saw The Amazing Spider-Man in theaters. And I thought it was a pretty good film. I recommend it to any superhero enthusiast. But because it wasn't so long ago, I couldn't help but compare and contrast it to the Sam Raimi version from 10 years ago. So here it goes.The Marc Webb version simply had better actors. Andrew Garfield played a much better Peter Parker/Spider-man in everyway to Toby McGuire. Garfield was able to convey Peter Parker's social akwardness a lot better than McGuire. Also, Garfield is far more athletic than McGuire, allowing for some spectacular fight scenes in the Marc Webb version that the Sam Raimi version lacked to its detriment. Also, Martin Sheen made a superior Uncle Ben to Cliff Robertson, thanks most likely to his time as POTUS in The West Wing. Emma Stone made a far better love interest than Kirsten Dunst. Furthermore, Rhys Ifans played a better villain than William Dafoe, despite playing a B-list villain. And all of them had the right amount of chemistry. However, that does not mean that the Marc Webb version was superior to the Sam Raimi version. Simply put, the Sam Raimi version had better pacing. It is a common failing amongst many Hollywood blockbusters that they need to rush through much of the story in order to get to the action that much sooner. This is not often the case. A proper film should take the time to allow the audience to digest what they had just seen, and allow the characters to develop and change based on the action taken. The Sam Raimi version did it the best. In contrast, the Marc Webb rushed into everything. Take for example, the second battle between the Lizard and Spider-man (Spoilers ahead). Spider-man attempts to trap the Lizard in the sewers, mostly to get a photo of it to sell, a nod to Peter Parker's photographer career in the comics. He fails and almost drowns, and worst, the Lizard finds Peter's camera with a "Property of Peter Parker" sticker on it. In only twenty minutes, the Lizard decides to attack Peter's high school, allowing very little time for the audience to digest the fact that the Lizard now knows who Spider-man is. There are other exaples, but I don't feel like deconstructing them all. All in all, The Amazing Spider-man is a film that I recommend to anyone who is antsy about The Dark Knight Rises coming out soon.As always, Enjoy.

As many of you may know, I have been reading the late Robert Jordan's epic Fantasy series, The Wheel of Time. But recently, I've taken a break from reading it. I got partway through Lord of Chaos when I had to stop as I was going on a vacation, and I was borrowing the book from the library (didn't want to take a book from there out of town). But that was a month ago. I just can't get the energy to start reading again.